‘Recursion’ by Blake Crouch

Sci-fi is not my usual go-to but I sought to expand my reading horizons with this genre-bending approachable thriller. I ended up being engaged with most of it and found that fully understanding all of the science was not even necessary. This is more than a page-turner, it gets deeply emotional as well.

Two main characters New York City cop Barry and neuroscientist Helena become involved in creating technology that maps memory and helps to preserve the precious ones. Used for good, being able to re-experience significant moments such as a first kiss or the birth of a child might help humanity or those who experience memory loss. But when the technology does more than they bargained for and ends up landing in the wrong hands, it morphs into something terrifying. As reality shifts and the world begins to crumble, can anyone survive?

I enjoyed the first three quarters of this novel and then became a bit tired of the time travel and replayed stories. This is nothing like Kate Atkinson’s literary novel Life After Life, but there are parallels, and for me Atkinson did a better job of the rewinding. Even so, the book reads like a movie and it wouldn’t surprise me if it shows up on Netflix one day as a series. I would watch it.

Here’s a helpful guide for timelines, plot explainer, and memory travel rules from another blogger for this book in case your mind was boggled while reading it like mine was: click here.